tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356114186987252972.post8756435893608637257..comments2024-03-28T22:09:54.924-04:00Comments on The Closet Professor: Quid Est VeritasJoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05299122685163501819noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356114186987252972.post-54074380367947529412011-06-28T13:05:44.004-04:002011-06-28T13:05:44.004-04:00FOC, you are not the first to ask those questions....FOC, you are not the first to ask those questions. A large part of the Reformation was about the priest within every man and the ability to read the Bible and interpret it for themselves. I think the Bible is purposefully obtuse so that the Bible can speak to us in many different ways. Those who believe that there is only one answer are those who do not understand the true meaning of God's love.<br /><br />Thank you for adding to the discussion. I think you bring up some very valuable points and asked some of the questions that many of us struggle with.Joehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05299122685163501819noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356114186987252972.post-27171489397809520422011-06-28T13:01:53.923-04:002011-06-28T13:01:53.923-04:00Graham, I whole-heartedly agree with you. God did...Graham, I whole-heartedly agree with you. God did create us in his image and loves us for who we are. My beliefs, though I attend the same church as my parents, is quite different from theirs. And I am happy to take responsibility for that. I think far too many Christians focus on Hell, and not enough on love, which is part of the reason they have a long way to go before acceptance.Joehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05299122685163501819noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356114186987252972.post-57388147510906103162011-06-27T21:44:21.657-04:002011-06-27T21:44:21.657-04:00Joe: I don't know how much this is going to c...Joe: I don't know how much this is going to contribute to your discussion but I wanted to provide some additional observations on the topic of religion.<br /><br />I have a good friend from Hawaii who ended up going to seminary school in CA to become a pastor (he's a southern baptist). My understanding about born again Christians is this idea of a having a personal relationship with God. Also many believe in the literal truth of the Bible.<br /><br />So my query to my pastor friend was why is there a need for clergy or even a church when one supposedly could have a personal relationship with God? Why the need for a middleman? Could one find God with the Bible alone?<br /><br />His answer was that pastors were trained to truly understand and interpret the Bible and God's teachings. This then led me to the question: Why is there a need to interpret the Bible if one believes in the literal words? Isn't the black and white print on the pages enough? No, he said, sometimes, the passages are metaphors, and requires formal learning to understand. This then led to the question of subjectivity -- if one has to interpret a passage, who is to say which interpretation is correct?<br /><br />OK, I readily admit I was kind of being a dick about this but I also was being seriously about pointing out the flaws of claiming literal truth only to get an explanation that only specialized training was necessary to properly understand the Bible and it seem conflicting to me.<br /><br />Now I don't mean to undercut the validity of your own faith, I just wanted to further explain why I have difficulty following religion. <br /><br />PS: My pastor friend has never condemned me for being gay. He believes that all people are sinners and deserve redemption and that being gay is no different than a host of sins mentioned in the Bible.fan of caseynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356114186987252972.post-27341333832812527072011-06-27T17:13:10.549-04:002011-06-27T17:13:10.549-04:00I am a Roman Catholic and like every one else who ...I am a Roman Catholic and like every one else who is Gay I had to make a journey in faith and also in discovering my sexual orientation. What I call the journey is one in which we go through moral development. The child accepts the authority of his parents or of his church, but as we grow and develop we have to start to take responsibility for our faith and for our actions. <br /><br />At the same time we have to grow in a faith the accepts that God loves me. He created me and in my case he created me as a gay man. God loves his creation and rejoices in my being. The main Christian denominations have a long way to go before they will really accept that being gay is a natural state. The Christian Church took many years before it accepted it that it got things wrong about slavery and many other aspects of its teaching.<br /><br />Because I have integrated my faith and my sexuality I am comfortable in my own skin. It is true that many in the Church do not accept my sexuality, but that is their problem not mine. I know that God created me in his own image and likeness and my role is to manifest to the World somthing of the gayness of God.Grahamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13154220910391756027noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356114186987252972.post-63313339688961475642011-06-27T12:29:47.791-04:002011-06-27T12:29:47.791-04:00Mack, in ways, the Churches of Christ have a very ...Mack, in ways, the Churches of Christ have a very rigid theology, though this varies from church to church, depending on the leadership within the different congregations. We did have have a very conservative preacher once, and eventually members of the church, including my family, voiced our opinion with our feet and left to attend another congregation. The ones who stayed eventually woke up to the fact that most of the church members were no longer there, and we found a new minister.<br /><br />I had a girlfriend in high school who was also a member of the Church of Christ, though a different congregation, and they did not allow dancing, which made school dances difficult. My church has never had such prohibitions. Our preacher doesn't drink, dance, gamble, and all the other little religious quirks, but he doesn't condemn us for doing so. A lot of it has to do with the church community.<br /><br />And I have the same issues with more conservative denominations that they do more damage than good. Also, I agree with you that all religions should challenge people's faith, but none should destroy it.<br /><br />My next post does focus mostly on why I remain a member of the Church of Christ and have no intention of changing that. I hope that you will find my view of the Churches of Christ to be a lot less rigid.Joehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05299122685163501819noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356114186987252972.post-83144472174547872032011-06-27T09:15:30.733-04:002011-06-27T09:15:30.733-04:00I have a good friend who is a member of the Church...I have a good friend who is a member of the Churches of Christ. My experience, through him, is of a very rigid theology. Part of the issue I've had with more conservative denominations is that they do so much damage to good people of faith. All religions should challenge people's faith, but none should destroy it. <br /><br />There are a number of gay-friendly denominations out there too: ELCA, Episcopal Church, Presbyterian Church USA, UCC, Disciples of Christ, Metropolitan Community Church and a number of others. All of these churches seem to have no problem reconciling faith with a different way of being.<br /><br />I don't know what will make these conservative churches wake up. Will it be when people vote with their feet and leave, or will it be when they are changed from the inside? I suspect the latter, but I hate to think of the human toll that will take to do it.Mackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02417879115453658262noreply@blogger.com